European Theater

Germany and Soviets invades Poland
1. Britain and France realize that Hitler cannot be appeased, so they finally declare war on him (and therefore the rest of the axis powers)
  1. Poles are NOT prepared and try to match the Blitzkrieg with cavalry
2. Germans unleash Blitzkrieg
  1. "lightning war"
  2. throw everything they've got, new technology, at the enemy (the Poles in this case)
    1. quickly overwhelm the enemy and avoid trench warfare
  3. German troops march into Warsaw
    1. Germans attack from the West, Russians attack from the East
      1. whole country falls in 27 days
      2. Germans take Western Poland and Russians take Eastern, as established in the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact
    2. Britain and France declare war
      1. but it's a phony war
        not much other than naval battles happens for like 5 months
        gives Britain time to mobilize
      2. Germany invades Denmark and then Norway
        Blitzkrieg is launched against them
        Denmark surrenders without a fight
        Norway takes about a month
        Nazi control of Norway threatens Britain
        1940 - Germany invades Belgium
        1940 - Germany invades the Netherlands
        1940 - France falls to Germany
        Maginot Line
        huge trench that the French built - they were READY for trench warefare!
        but there was no trench warfare, the Germans just went around it
        Paris Surrendered without a fight
        government went into hiding, many in Algeria
        were occupied until the end of the war
        Jews that had fled to France were now vulnerable
        The Battle for Britain
        they're the only ally left and the only thing standing between Hitler and his goal of ruling Europe
        Operation Sea Lion
        Hitler wanted to demoralize British first by massive air raids (on civilians) and then invade
        people had to keep on living daily life because if they didn't the economy would die, and Germany would still win
        the Brits invented and used radar technology at this time
        they also had broken the German code, so they knew where/when they were tryna attack
        Royal family stays in Buckingham palace throughout bombing because they've got to be the beacon of hope
        Hitler gives up by 1940, amazed that Britain's held on
        he actually goes to them and says that if they surrender, he'll stop (they decline)
        1940 - Sir Winston Churchill becomes prime minister
        Churchill inspired British to “Their finest hour”
        says that if they hang on, it will be their finest moment in all of history
        1941 - Operation Barbarossa
        Hitler invades the USSR, breaking the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pacts
        catches the Red Army OFF GUARD!
        3-prong attack trying to capture Stalingrad, Moscow, and Leningrad
        90% of Stalin’s generals were killed during the Great Purge so all of the leadership is lacking for the Soviets
        Nazis keep on pushing Red Army back
        Scorched Earth Policy - burning crops, buildings, or any other resources that a successfully invading enemy might be able to use
        Hitler besieged the city of Leningrad for 900 days, starvation was the biggest problem (a million people starved)
        breeds a deep hatred for Nazis in Russia
        Hitler attacks Stalingrad because it bears Stalin's name and has oil
        but then winter comes, and nobody survives winter in Russia except the Russians
        TURNING POINT OF THE WAR: Germans surrender in Stalingrad
        Holocaust begins too
        Stalin still doesn't join the allies
        When Stalin pushes the Germans back at Moscow, Britain and the US ask him to join the allies in winter of 1941
        1942 - North Africa Campaign
        Important because winner would control the oil supply in the ME and the British-owned Suez Canal
        British are led by Bernard Law Montgomery
        Germans are led by Erwin Rommel, the "Desert Fox"
        One of the most successful German generals
        Named “desert fox” because he could out maneuver anyone
        the Second Battle of El Alamein
        Great Britain forces the axis powers back into Libya all the way to Tunisia
        1943 - The Italian Campaign
        Americans are led by George S. Patton
        goal is to liberate Rome and Paris and then work their way into Berlin, which they could now focus on since the Germans had surrendered in Africa
        Italians have grown tired of Mussolini
        he's imprisoned
        Nazis break him out of jail and set him up as a puppet commander where the allies can’t get to him
        Patton and British forces lead an amphibious invasion of Sicily
        Sicily was quick and successful, and Messina (located at the tip of it) allows us to jump to the mainland of Italy
        By 1944, we get Rome back
        Italy was fairly easy to get back because in 1943 Mussolini was removed from power
        also because the Americans and the British gave kids candy and provided free medical care so people welcome them more and there are less battles
        June 6th, 1944 - D-Day
        needed another way into France because you can't get tanks through the Alps
        Stalin is desperate for the allies to open another front to the war to distract Germany since the USSR is on the offensive now
        Hitler thought that the allies were invading the port city of Calais
        Rommel (Desert Fox) was highered to build the Atlantic Wall and the beaches were fortified with iron and steel
        Patton builds a fake army out of balloons and Hollywood props in Dover
        Another fake army is built in Edinburgh in Scotland to make it look like they will invade Norway
        the plan is to aim for the beaches of Normandy
        General Eisenhower gives the orders for “Operation Overlord”
        There was terrible resistance, but the Allies prevailed because Hitler thought this was a diversion so he didn’t send more troops until later
        In the early hours of the morning (like 1am) they drop paratroopers on the beaches to subdue Germans and to secure the bridges and villages so that the men that take the beaches don’t have to also take the villages
        paratroopers don’t go as planned because they have to drop them sooner so they aren’t in the same location as planned
        It took time to find each other and so they used code words to find each other
        Huge invasion force made up of Americans, Brits, Canadian, free French, and others
        The boats met in the English channel at Piccadilly Circus
        has to be successful because they are showing all of their cards to Hitler at once and to plan something like this took 18-20 months (if it fails, they don't have that time again)
        August 25th 1944 - Paris is liberated by Americans
        1944-1945 - The Battle of the Bulge
        One last final offensive by the Germans to push the allies out of France
        allies were really overwhelmed and were NOT expecting such resistance
        but we win and continue pushing the Nazis back into Germany
        FDR brings Patton back and allows him to fight again
        1945 - Mussolini and his mistress are killed
        He realized the war will be lost so he and his mistress tried to sneak away to live in Spain
        As he was fleeing the Italians find him and shoot him, his mistress, and their possy
        string up their bodies in Milan so people went and spit and yelled nasty things at his body
        Hitler commits suicide
        receives word the Mussolini has been killed and that the allies are about to win the war
        Hitler would NEVER surrender so he went into his deeply fortified bunker and when the threat of the Soviets was imminent he killed himself
        also doesn’t want what happened to Mussolini’s body to happen to him
        May 8, 1945 - V-E Day
        Hitler finally is defeated and Nazis surrender
        but as Americans march across Nazi territory, they uncover concentration camps...
        miracle of Dunkirk
        Hundreds of thousands of men are trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, sandwiched between the Germans and the ocean
        Winston Churchill gave an impassioned plea to British citizens to get in their boats and rescue soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk These civilians, normal, everyday people load as many people as they can on their boats to take them to Navy cruisers
        the bulk of the men are saved in this way
        they had to abandon all of their heavy machinery which the Germans recovered to get British military intelligence
        left France vulnerable because all the soldiers were in Britain
        Caused a fair amount of animosity between the two
        French were like bruh we could’ve fought them off
        British were like no we needed to save lives succ it up

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	Created by Lizzie Steilberg about 6 years ago